Hogmanay is the Scottish word for New Year's Eve and the name of Scotland's traditional year-end celebration.
The term covers the night of December 31 and, by extension, the customs and public events surrounding the New Year. Edinburgh's modern Hogmanay celebrations have included torchlight processions, concerts, street parties, and fireworks, making the city one of the best-known destinations for New Year's festivities.
Scottish Hogmanay customs include singing “Auld Lang Syne,” visiting friends and relatives after midnight, and bringing symbolic gifts such as shortbread, coal, or whisky. These practices vary by region and household. “First-footing” is another associated custom, but it is only one part of the wider Hogmanay tradition, not a synonym for it.
The word's origin is uncertain. Proposed explanations connect it with Scots, French, Norse, and Gaelic influences, and historians have not established one universally accepted derivation. Its meaning as a Scottish New Year's celebration, however, is well established.